That’s why Polaris worked with the U.S. Department of Justice to ensure that the particular needs of victims of human trafficking were taken into account in its latest guidelines for how federal prosecutors work with victims of crime. 

The new guidelines offer a more trauma-informed, victim-centered approach that recognizes the complex nature of trafficking. 

Among the key improvements:

• Restitution: The new guidelines clarify that restitution is mandatory when traffickers are convicted – including to victims of sex trafficking, who are entitled to what the trafficker gained by selling them.
• Emotional harm: Prosecutors and others in the federal system working with trafficking survivors should assume that the survivors experienced emotional harm and make accommodations/seek services and support for the victim accordingly. 
• Safety plans: In the aftermath of criminal proceedings, whether or not cases go to trial, federal offices must ensure that plans are made to ensure the safety of victims of human trafficking, much as they are for victims of crimes, such as domestic violence. 

A significant portion of Polaris’s work focuses on helping financial institutions to understand patterns of how trafficking may show up in their customer data as other crimes, such as fraud and money laundering.

This work gives law enforcement another avenue to pursue traffickers and hold them accountable without relying on testimony from their victims. 

Of course, that is not always possible, and holding traffickers accountable can be an important part of the healing journey for some survivors. Polaris is glad that the U.S. Department of Justice has recognized the unique situations trafficking survivors, who are also witnesses in criminal cases, can find themselves in and work to ensure they have the support they need. 

Stop human trafficking today

Help fix the broken systems that make trafficking possible so we can prevent it from happening in the first place.

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The post Victim-Centered Criminal Justice: Improvements to Federal Guidelines for Prosecutors first appeared on Polaris.

When you fly Delta Air Lines, you can make a massive difference in the fight against human trafficking.

January is National Human Trafficking Awareness Month. And in an effort to help passengers better understand the broken systems that leave people and communities vulnerable to traffickers, Delta will feature movies and documentaries* that accurately reflect the realities of sex and labor trafficking.

But Delta is doing more than that. And so can you.

In addition to making the movies and documentaries free to all passengers, Delta will also ask you to join the fight by making a contribution! By donating Delta Sky Miles or donating directly, you help Polaris work with victims and survivors on their exit strategies. Survivors also utilize flights to enter into long-term recovery programs or simply to return home to their families.

Our hope is that by becoming better informed about sex and labor trafficking, Delta’s passengers will feel inspired to DO SOMETHING about it!

Corporate partners like Delta help make our work possible. From training their employees to donating cash and Sky Miles, Delta fuels our response and prevention measures.

Polaris thanks Delta Air Lines for their demonstrated commitment to the cause!

*Polaris and Delta’s Top Picks

• 12 Years a Slave
• Food Chains
• Ghost Fleet
• Girl in Room 13
• I am Jane Doe
• Inside the Hidden Reality of Trafficking in America
• Shattered Dreams: Sex Trafficking in America
• Very Young Girls
• The Workers Cup

Stop human trafficking today

Help fix the broken systems that make trafficking possible so we can prevent it from happening in the first place.

Make a Gift

The post Take Action During Human Trafficking Awareness Month: Polaris and Delta’s Top Picks first appeared on Polaris.

“To respond to the workers’ mobility in North America, we need a robust safety net that effectively identifies and connects victims and survivors of human trafficking, and related exploitation, to appropriate services. During the summit we focused on strategies to enhance regional cooperation to assist victims and survivors of human trafficking, share data on emerging trends, and identifying opportunities for collaboration in public policy advocacy to prevent and respond to human trafficking across the region,” says Andrea Rojas, Director of Strategic Initiative on Labor Trafficking at Polaris. Polaris operates the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.

“There is a growing need for governments to act decisively to combat labor trafficking in North America. Non-profit organizations cannot do this work alone. National strategies and policies can help coordinate our collective efforts towards making resources more available to victims and survivors,” says Julia Drydyk, Executive Director, The Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking. The Centre operates The Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-833-900-1010, a confidential, multi-lingual service that is available 24/7.

“One quarter of Consejo Ciudadano’s human trafficking-related attention is related to labor exploitation and forced labor. It has also detected that migrants are victims of extortion, fraud, kidnapping, and forced labor for criminal groups. Hence, the relevance of Consejo’s coordination with local and federal authorities to share data on how traffickers operate, risk situations and places where the crime occurs; in addition to participating in the design of prevention policies, attention to victims, and monitoring judicial processes,” says Salvador Guerrero Chiprés, president of Consejo Ciudadano. Consejo Ciudadano operates the National Hotline and Chat against Human Trafficking at 800 5533 000, to prevent, provide care and combat this crime in Mexico.
  
Three organizations will meet regularly to continue learning from each other’s experiences and raise awareness among migrants and temporary foreign workers at-risk of being exploited in North America. Hotlines in the three countries will work more closely to provide more appropriate, trauma-informed referrals and person-centred assistance to victims and survivors of human trafficking traveling in North America.
 
For more information or to arrange interviews, please contact:

Flor Canseco, Consejo Ciudadano
prensa@consejociudadanomx.org

Rafael Flores, Polaris
rflores@polarisproject.org

Aziz Froutan, The Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking
afroutan@ccteht.ca  

The post North America, United to Combat Human Trafficking first appeared on Polaris.

It is no secret that the U.S. agriculture industry is largely sustained by a Mexican workforce, as few U.S.-born workers are willing to take these difficult and low-paid jobs. This is why the U.S. offers the H-2A visa, which allows foreign nationals to come to the United States temporarily to work in the agricultural sector. More than 90 percent of these visas go to Mexican nationals. 

Sadly, statistics from the National Human Trafficking Hotline show that H-2A visa holders are highly vulnerable to labor trafficking. Between 2018 and 2020, the Trafficking Hotline identified more than 2,800 H-2A visa holders who reported being victims of labor trafficking. And across all sectors, almost 60% of victims of forced labor are foreign nationals in cases where the Trafficking Hotline is able to identify immigration status. Mexicans are by far the most reported nationality among foreigners who are exploited by traffickers in our country. 

This is why Polaris has been working tirelessly with the Consulates from Mexico in the U.S. to speak directly with the Mexican community working in the U.S. Whether they come to work every year or have a more permanent job, Polaris aims to spread the word about human and labor rights and also about resources available for workers. In 2022 alone, Polaris has reached approximately 3,500 Mexican citizens, and at least 272 consular officers have been trained to recognize human trafficking.  

This relationship with the Mexican Consulates started back in 2016, and now the Consular Network and Polaris have signed an agreement in order to formalize this collaboration and expand training opportunities with agents that have direct contact with the Mexican community. Building trust by sharing valuable information and connecting them with useful resources is the best way to make sure that migrants and their communities are aware of their rights and appropriately identify situations of trafficking.

It’s not the only strategy for being good allies. As a proactive way to reach vulnerable workers, Polaris is also implementing Nonechka, which gathers direct input from immigrant workers about dynamics of exploitation via survey, connecting them to important resources and enabling the trafficking field to hear from workers first-hand — making visible their experiences and the variables that make them vulnerable to trafficking in the agricultural environment. 

Partnering with our neighbor is not only a need; it is simply the right thing to do to help eradicate labor trafficking from our food supply chain. 

The post Polaris Partners with Mexico’s Government to Combat Labor Trafficking first appeared on Polaris.

Enter Polaris’s corporate hospitality partners — and generous individuals from across the country. When local shelters aren’t an option, partnerships like these enable us to use donated hotel points to make reservations for victims and survivors, bridging the gap in available housing. Thus far in 2022, points donations have helped house 37 people and a service dog, giving them a safe space to take the next step on their journey toward healing and freedom.

The Current Shelter Crisis

Hotel points have been invaluable during the pandemic. For those in trafficking situations, COVID-19 made it even harder to leave, given early lockdowns and loss of shelters and safety net services. Among survivors who had already left situations of trafficking, many found themselves back in crisis, jeopardizing their hard-won emotional healing and economic growth.

Polaris quickly saw this reflected in Trafficking Hotline contacts. Early data analysis determined that crisis cases needing assistance within 24 hours surged more than 40%, and emergency shelter requests nearly doubled, mirroring what service providers across the country were seeing in their communities. Meanwhile, already-limited shelter space was stretched even thinner with COVID restrictions, with some sites closing down altogether.

Today, we may be emerging from the acute phase of the pandemic, but the safety net has not recovered. Service providers are calling Polaris directly for their clients, and the Trafficking Hotline continues to receive more calls requesting hotel stays. And the stays are growing longer: Before the pandemic, victims and survivors generally spent about two to three days in hotels before moving into longer-term programs — they are now waiting about five to seven and as many as ten days for something to open up. And even then, they may have to stay in general shelters, which are not always the most supportive for their situations.

How You Can Help

With victims and survivors needing safe shelter options more than ever before, Polaris is redoubling our efforts to find them resources — and you can help us meet their needs.

If you’re a member of Choice Privileges, IHG One Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, or Wyndham Rewards, click here to learn how you can donate your points to support victims and survivors in need of emergency shelter. Polaris can use points from these loyalty programs to book stays, and some even allow the conversion of points into monetary donations for Polaris’s work.

If you’re an employee at a hospitality company and are interested in working with Polaris, please contact corporateengagement@polarisproject.org to explore partnership opportunities.

Through your generosity, Polaris can continue to bridge gaps in safe shelter for victims and survivors through the Trafficking Hotline, as we also work to strengthen safety nets and prevent trafficking from happening in the first place.

Thank You to All Our Corporate Hospitality Partners

Stop human trafficking today

Help fix the broken systems that make trafficking possible so we can prevent it from happening in the first place.

Make a Gift

The post Building a Bridge to Safety first appeared on Polaris.

Within the Department, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) plays a central role in investigating trafficking, including taking the lead role on the vast majority of labor trafficking cases and many adult sex trafficking cases and ensuring that victims and survivors get connected to services to recover. The US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) determines survivors’ eligibility for T-visas, offering immigration relief for foreign national victims of trafficking. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) ensures goods made with forced labor cannot enter the United States. And of course, DHS plays a central role in the implementation of the temporary guest worker visa system, which Polaris has been working to reform.

DHS also plays a central role in strengthening our nation’s cybersecurity. With the recent rise in weaponized mis-, dis-, and malinformation about human trafficking, the intersection of cybersecurity and anti-trafficking efforts are more essential than ever.

As a first-generation Chinese-American, how the U.S. Government treats immigrants and migrant workers is of paramount importance to me. In October 2021, the Biden Administration released a new policy directive, shifting the focus for Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) toward investigation of employers who threaten and abuse workers, rather than focusing on deporting workers who lack legal status. This is a critically important shift because traffickers use immigration status as a weapon – threatening those under control with deportation if they refuse to get in line and do what they are told.

There is so much more to be done to protect immigrant victims of human trafficking and reform a system that puts too many people at risk for abuse. As a member of the HSAC, I am proud to help inform DHS’ approach to dramatically improve how this country addresses human trafficking with a survivor-centered, justice and equity driven approach.

– Catherine Chen, Chief Executive Officer of Polaris

The post Polaris CEO Named to Homeland Security Advisory Council first appeared on Polaris.

That’s the conclusion a diverse collection of San Diego social service, government, advocacy and other leaders came to after Polaris convened research and discussions to determine what services were most urgently needed there to make a significant dent in the volume of sex trafficking in the area.

The next step, of course, is making it happen. That is not going to be easy, but a group of leaders in the San Diego community, brought together by Polaris for just this purpose, says they are committed to making this safer space a reality.

The details and specifics matter, local leaders explained. San Diego has a well-known and active center that provides services, programming and a sense of connection for many in the area’s LGBTQ+ community. But this center is in a part of town that is predominantly white, and not necessarily easily accessible for folks in the Black community. A new center, in another location, could more easily focus on meeting the unique needs of Black members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Creating a new, supportive LGBTQ+ gathering place geared specifically to Black people has long had a place on the “wish list” of members of San Diego’s active, volunteer Black LGBTQ Coalition, explained Paige Coe, who leads community outreach for the group. The team had not necessarily focused on the project as important in the context of preventing sex trafficking, however.

But as leaders in San Diego outside of the traditional anti trafficking field came together, they began to recognize the significant overlaps between existing community needs and the vulnerabilities of the young people in particular who most often wound up in trafficking situations.

The Polaris team then reached out to government and political leaders in the community to explain how a safe, affirming community center built and run by and for Black, LGBTQ+ could lead to a demonstrable reduction in sex trafficking in San Diego. They found significant buy-in from the corners of the city that matter. Now, that wish-list item is one step closer to becoming a reality. We’ll keep you posted as we support the powerful leaders in San Diego to build a positive, intentional space for some of the most vulnerable young people in the community and help keep all of San Diego a little bit safer.

The post Preventing Sex Trafficking By Creating Community first appeared on Polaris.

Polaris is already seeing the benefits. Although the NSS is still underway, survivors have taught us invaluable lessons about what it means to center their voices and expertise in this project and in anti-trafficking work more broadly. As data collection and analysis continue, Polaris is eager to pass what we have learned along the way on to others who are interested.

Putting Principles into Practice

Polaris has long believed in the importance of centering survivors. With survivors as research team members and participants in the NSS, we had the chance to make good on this commitment, adapting the study in response to their input. At the broadest level, we learned that listening to the community requires flexibility and often demands more time, effort, and resources than typical research studies allow. For example, we expanded our original plan for Community Advisory Group meetings of survivor consultants to include one-on-one meetings with a survivor who only speaks Mandarin and offers an important and rarely represented perspective.

Polaris has also learned more about how to meaningfully engage survivors. Beyond asking for review of project materials, we must include them in leadership roles in strategy, outreach, and research for better results. In the NSS, for instance, our Community Advisory Group rewrote our initial outreach video script from a survivor perspective, making for a more effective recruitment tool and a better testament to survivor partnership. And in response to survivor feedback, we changed focus group facilitators from ally research team members to survivors themselves, creating a better environment of trust and empathy.

Finally, being survivor centered also means being willing to have our good intentions corrected. Conscious of safety issues and potential triggers, Polaris built in confidentiality provisions, considered what questions were appropriate, and took other protective measures. Although these are important, survivors taught us not to assume what they want or need but to give them the respect and autonomy to make their own choices about how they want to participate. For the sake of survivors and the research they’re supporting, it’s important to them to share their truths, even if it means asking and answering hard questions.

Celebrating Early Impact 

As we learned these lessons, Polaris also saw some unexpected outcomes. Notably, the NSS has enabled Polaris to build trust with multiple communities. First and foremost, we have built trust with survivors and their communities – instead of an impersonal and sometimes even harmful research process, survivors have shared about how different the NSS feels and how excited they are to participate. At the same time, we haven’t compromised on scientific rigor – the NSS has also built trust with academics and researchers, proving Polaris’s ability to run such a project and confirming the necessity of community engagement in high-quality research. 

Moreover, although the NSS was not designed as a direct-service project, it has provided vital support to survivors. Participants have told us that they value the personal connections they’ve built, whether meeting other survivors in focus groups, receiving peer support, or talking to our research team. Some have experienced healing within the safe group spaces that survivors created. And many are taking paid opportunities for gaining research and consulting experience with Polaris, which not only improves the study but also helps their professional development.

Finally, Polaris has started to apply NSS learnings to our other programs, including improving outreach for the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline and deepening survivor engagement in our advocacy and communications. And we hope that other anti-trafficking efforts will benefit from our learnings in similar ways.

Read the full brief to learn more about how we have adapted the NSS in partnership with survivors. You can also review some preliminary findings from survivors about meaningful engagement in research and service access challenges. 

In the 20 years since Polaris’s founding, survivors have taught us so much. And we’ll continue to learn from them through the NSS and beyond in the years to come.

The post Learning from the Experts: An Update on the National Survivor Study first appeared on Polaris.

Just as importantly, the anti trafficking field has even more concrete evidence that working directly with people with lived experience of trafficking is the single best way to understand the crime in context and reduce vulnerability and victimization.

Scaling up collaboration between trafficking survivors and financial institutions through the Polaris Financial Intelligence Unit, established in partnership with PayPal, could result in more traffickers being held accountable; fewer survivors of trafficking having to testify in order to see their traffickers prosecuted, and more nuanced and effective responses from the financial services industry.

Lundstrom’s records covered a period when she was trafficked by someone she was in a romantic relationship with – a situation often referred to as “Romeo” pimping – as well as a period when she was controlled by a “CEO pimp” – a trafficker type whose operations generally begin with fraudulent job offers that sound lucrative or glamorous.

While the financial institutions could clearly tell from the records that the account holder was in some kind of financial distress, without context, they would not be able to see the full picture of what could have been going on in Lundstrom’s life at the time.

For example, the bank records from her trafficking experiences cross-referenced with Lundstrom’s own journal during that time made it clear that she was earning – but not being allowed to keep – a great deal more money than was being deposited into her account.

The records from when she was romantically involved with her trafficker showed different patterns of money flows than when she experienced trafficking from the CEO pimp, who dispensed funds to Lundstrom in small increments as a means of control. In several instances, for example, the deposit made was for the exact amount necessary to cover certain bills with little leftover that would allow her the freedom to make her own choices.

Another useful pattern Lundstrom noted was whether or not hotel rooms appeared on the trafficked person’s bank records. For example in Las Vegas, hotel rooms are less likely to appear frequently on a trafficked person’s bank statements because sex buyers generally have paid for the rooms.

These context clues are key to helping banks understand the many complexities of trafficking situations and build more targeted and nuanced detection models.

The next step is scaling these efforts to bring together survivor expertise and anti-money laundering professionals and in doing so, expanding the ability of banks and the financial services industry to be part of the anti-trafficking solution.

The post Bringing Survivor Expertise to Anti-Money Laundering Professionals first appeared on Polaris.

In 2020, hits to the site leaped a record 67 percent over the year before as a record high number of survivors, potential victims, service providers and others sought resources around the world. 

As the global pandemic has so dramatically illustrated, no nation is an island unto itself. As the longtime operator of the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline, Polaris has known this for some time. The Trafficking Hotline routinely works on situations of human trafficking that require connecting victims and survivors to supports and services outside the United States. That’s a significant part of the reason why in 2014, Polaris launched the Global Modern Slavery Directory (GMSD). Since then, this unique resource has become more valuable than ever. In 2020, hits to the site leapt a record 67 percent over the year before as a record high number of survivors, potential victims, service providers and others sought resources around the world. 

The GMSD has changed and grown a great deal since it was originally conceived. In its first iteration, it was essentially a digital-age phone book, providing contact information for organizations working on human trafficking around the world. But it soon became apparent that there was so much more needed than simply a digital-age version of a phone book. Human trafficking is incredibly complex, and the more information available at the click of a mouse, the better help can be provided to those in need. 

Today, the GMSD offers information for about 2,682 organizations in 197 countries, including detailed services offered, the populations organizations are able to work with, languages spoken, any and all contact information, as well as any hotlines (phone, SMS, online chat) that they operate. This information is continuously updated to ensure accuracy, and as we learn more about what service providers and others need to know in order to make the best possible referrals. 

While the GMSD is focused internationally, the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline is its most frequent user. During 2020, the Trafficking Hotline received information about 971 cases involving an international location, made 588 referrals to international service providers, and sent 145 reports about potential trafficking situations to international contacts (service providers and law enforcement) – all thanks to the work of the Global Modern Slavery Directory.

With careful tracking and annual updates, the GMSD is a vital resource beyond individual situations of human trafficking and exploitation. It serves as an accurate map of the landscape and allows researchers and governments to identify gaps in services and other needs in most of the world. 

Through data extracted from the Trafficking Hotline situations, we at Polaris are also able to learn more about the top venues and industries for trafficking globally and the top needs identified by international potential victims of trafficking. 

2021 promises to be another great year for the Global Modern Slavery Directory. Thanks to a two-year grant from the Carlson Family Foundation, the GMSD will be getting a much needed facelift. That means rebuilding the website and the directory from the ground up, making it more user-friendly, and adding a mobile and tablet version, allowing for more accessibility.  We will also be conducting more research into the data we have collected to begin some analysis of service gaps internationally and share those findings with partners and GMSD members. We will also be reaching out to more member organizations to create and update country protocols the Trafficking Hotline uses to ensure we are able to send potential trafficking reports to the correct and survivor-centered agencies. 

If your organization would like to join the Global Modern Slavery Directory, or if you know of organizations that should join, please fill out the application. For more information and inclusion criteria, please review the GMSD – Service Provider Guidelines and Expectations document. If you are already a member of the GMSD and would like to update your information, please click here.

The post Impact of the Global Modern Slavery Directory in 2020 first appeared on Polaris.